The short version:

Moderates = most likely a Taqiyya driven individual who may not commit acts of terror themselves, but will surely defend Islam and deny the problem within.

Reformists = Those who will honestly see the problem within their own, do not defend Islam but attack the evil within and don’t condemn anti-jihadists for pointing out the obvious.

Today I read a post over at our friend Flopping Aces by Wordsmith discussing his disdain for the extreme hard-liners on his side of the aisle when it comes to attacking the “moderate” Muslim movement in America. He apparently is not happy with the anti-Islamic rhetoric coming from our side of the aisle and believes we should have a more optimistic approach to Islam.

Read his whole post here. Here’s a snippet:

I’ve been criticized for my approach in dealing with radical Islam; in trying to differentiate Islam from Islamists; in wanting to promote the term “hirab” over the use of “jihad”, to take the language of legitimacy out of the hands of those Islamic terrorists who wish to refer to themselves as “jihadists”.

What baffles me the most, are those arm-chair Koranic and Hadith-watchers who study every anti-Islamic text on the market, then ask, “Where are the moderate Muslims? They don’t exist! It is antithetical to Islam.” When moderates are pointed out, they are patronizingly dismissed as “not true followers of Islam” but apostates because “the Koran says this“, the “hadith tells them that”.

These arm-chair Koran scholars apparently have the authority to tell Muslims what is and isn’t their faith of worship because they’ve delved into every Robert Spencer book and politically incorrect guides to Islam, Trifkovic’s The Sword of the Prophet, Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel, etc. “So long as you’re bashing Islam, we’ll listen to you.” is the message I get from many readers of these books- which, make no mistake about it, are extremely valuable information and resources, vital to the war we find ourselves in.

But say something positive about Islam, and we’re just not interested in reading about it. Instead, we’ll be suspicious that any book on Islam that isn’t anti-Islamic must be written by Muslim apologists who want to trick and deceive us through smoke and mirrors.

My response is that the Islamic “moderates” have been taken over by Islamic “Taqiyya” (Islam sanctioned lies for the sake of jihad). We should be pointing our support to the “reformists” within Islam who recognize the problem. Anti-jihadists don’t trust “moderates” because they’re represented by the likes of groups like CAIR.

My personal opinion:

I believe there are some modernized Muslims who do want to embrace freedom, democracy and seperation of Mosque and State. Just look at those who are making a concerted effort to do so.

http://www.reformislam.org/

The whole reformist movement has been really hurt by groups like CAIR and others. The problem right now is that there is a huge movement of ani-Jihad blogs who lump good Muslims in with other so-called good Muslims like CAIR in with the rest of the Islamic reform movement. Anti-jihadists honestly believe that Taqiyya is present in most “moderate” Muslims, but since groups like CAIR claim to be moderate (but are clearly not) many anti-jihadist blogs just don’t believe it.

I for one have gone back and forth. I see some good Muslims who genuinely want peace, and genuinely do not want Islamic Sharia to rule America. But then I see those (majority) who try to defend Islam without one word about the problem within their own religion. The latter seem to be more prevalent at this point. These “moderates” claim to be moderate but do nothing but condemn us for being critical of Islam, and try and defend their own in the most non-sensical manner that makes us not believe one bit of their rhetoric…and so enter Taqiyya for the so-called “moderate”.

I think ultimately, if Islamic reformists (We cannot call them moderates anymore), really want to reform the religion, it needs to be a grass roots effort of “nothing but condemnation” of their own and to stop attacking those anti-Jihadists who are only pointing out the obvious. Anti-jihadists should not be blamed for having a pessimistic opinion about a reformed Islam. When Islamic groups start attacking their own and stop ignoring/defending the obvious, I think most of the anti-jihad blogs will come around.

Right now it’s difficult to believe the goodness in Islam because the voice is so small. Ultimately, though, anti-jihadists want to be proven wrong, but until then, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing. Exposing radical Islam for what it is, and where it comes from. Studying and exposing the life of Mohammed and the teachings of the Koran/Hadiths. Call me an arm-chair critic, but hey, I don’t need to know Arabic to understand what Islam teaches.

I get constant emails from one group called “Muslims against Sharia” , who will do nothing but condemn the evil in their own religion. They don’t try and attack me for pointing out the daily Jihad against the West. They recognize, that the only way to win over the anti-jihadists is by their actions, by condemning the evil over and over again. They understand that to win over the anti-jihadists, they have to gain their trust. The second they try and defend the roots of Islam is the second we start questioning their true “moderate” motives.